Posts by Wil Palen

Great Innovator

"don't forget that once upon a time IE was the great innovator of the web. For example, IE gave the world Ajax, the ability to refresh certain parts of the page without reloading the whole thing. Without that contribution, the web as we know it would simply not exist."

'''If some people don't like what NSA is doing, Ellison argued, the trick is to vote the spying programs away. "The great thing is that we live in a democracy. If we don't like what NSA is doing, we can just get rid of the government and put in a different government," he said.'''

Some time ago I've been playing Xonotic which I find quite similar in feel to UT. But I sorely miss the rich selection in commands and taunts UT had. Remember "My house!", "anyone else want some?", "And stay down!", "see ya", "Medic!" ??

port apps

ordering now..

After all the problems I had with the crappy USB host driver (crashes, even when only using ethernet), the BCM2835's half-assed USB hardware host implementation needing software handling of microframe interrupts, eating away at the already limited CPU power, and the low quality of the on-board audio DAC (effectively 10 bits, with regular clicks every second or so) I gave up on the RaspPi for my purposes.

I was already eyeballing the BeagleBone, but was held back by its price. Now this one comes along, I couldn't be happier!

Re: Microsoft Lock-In.

I've moved to SIP on Linux, SIP on Android. SIP on older phones. It works, quite nicely even. Now I only have to educate my friends & family and cut through the blank stare I get when trying to explain..

Re: Just STOP using Ubuntu

Net loss

Now if only the RaspberryPi wasn't so glitchy and unstable, it would be a benefit. I foresee hours and hours of wasted time because of hunting for bugs that don't exist (at least not in the student's code)

Re: B5 was horrible

3 years back

.. when I decided to buy a TV, I went into a shop and decided on a certain brand and model range.

I asked the guy what the difference was between the various models in that range, since they looked the same, but had a quite steep price difference. He answered that it was the software. Without hesitation I settled on the cheapest model.

Since then XBMC has only improved, my phone has become quite a fancy remote control and with a few keystrokes I can switch to a full PC desktop w. browser for those few sources that are not accessible through the media center.

Extra bonus points: when I get a phonecall it mutes the music or pauses the video. awesome!

It's the suits stupid

Judging from the way the contracting world works, I'm not surprised.

With few exceptions, all these contracting bureaus / 'headhunters' do is count the technical terms on your CV and match them against the terms on the function requirements. The highest number wins, regardless of actual competence (which is of course harder to measure, but hey, that should be their job)

So guy #1 with 2 years experience in framework A wins over girl #2 with 5 years experiene in similar frameworks B, C, D and E...

strange defaults

I like and use KDE, but the defaults you get on a fresh desktop are pretty strange. Trippy, for sure.

I mean, a blue shiny aura around windows, with a dull grey desktop and application look, that's just plain ugly. It's changeable though, once you find out where. Also, some KDE applications have very strange initial sizes, both the application window itself and the internal layout.

There's only one chance to make a first impression, and currently KDE fails, needlessly.

For me personally the N9 is far ahead of the competition, and for my next phone I will most likely go with Jolla or Tizen if it stays close to what Harmattan/N9 offers right now. With shelving Qt, Nokia threw away one of the best platforms that had a common platform for both smartphones and featurephones, which could have benefitted hugely from a trickle-down effect. Besides, those who dabbled with Qt/QML realize that it offers what HTML5 promises, but doesn't deliver.

And, who cares about millions of apps if most is substandard anyway. The iOS6 maps app debacle is just one example. Just compare that to what the N9 gives you for free, with lifetime updates, and no sucking sound emanating from your wallet. And not to mention walled gardens and obsessive corporate control. And on the other side of the fence, the android fans seem to be more focused on # of cores and clock ticks, like that matters. Or is it trendy to be mining bitcoins on the phone nowadays and in the process scorch the family jewels?